Sagari Gupta

India’s booming lifestyle management industry is a symptom of the state’s withdrawal from care infrastructure. AI generated image An IIT-founder CEO in Gurugram pays Rs. 1 lakh a month to a single person who manages his laundry, food, wardrobe, domestic staff training, and household repairs. In Bengaluru, a young professional couple uses a lifestyle management firm to coordinate their home schedules, travel bookings and vendor calls. These are not outliers but the visible edge of a...

Three examination controversies unfolded in the country within a single month in May. The NEET-UG 2026 was cancelled after a paper leak affecting 22.79 lakh candidates. The CBSE’s Class 12 revaluation portal collapsed under first-day traffic, and answer sheet mix-ups under its new On-Screen Marking system were publicly confirmed. UPSC Prelims 2026 triggered a nationwide debate over whether its paper design had crossed from difficulty into unfairness. Collectively, these point to a major...

As conflict in West Asia continues unabated, India finds itself confronting the rising cost of economic patriotism AI generated image On 10 May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stood before a crowd in Hyderabad and asked Indians to change how they live. Avoid foreign travel for at least a year. Work from home where possible. Stop buying gold. He called it economic patriotism. A war involving the United States and Iran had disrupted oil supply routes, driven up the price of every barrel India...